Robin: Power of Fear aka Miggs' Derailment
by zcole
Summary: A normal morning for Jason Todd turns into his first real test as Robin, the Boy Wonder. Please read and review.


**Robin: Miggs' Derailment**

Part 1: Unspoken Rules and Roles

Zachary Cole

It had been a rough night.

Or at least that's what Jason was told when, a few minutes after dawn, Alfred Pennyworth arrived in his bedroom with a breakfast consisting of baked beans on burnt toast, just the way "young Master Todd" liked it. Despite brining the meal to him, there was an unspoken rule that these meals were to be consumed in one of the mansion's four living rooms. Without a word, Jason reached for the tray and brought it with him downstairs, while "Alf" followed with the morning's edition of the _Gotham Gazette_ tucked into the crook of one arm.

Jason sat at the head of the table, idly gnawing on a slice of bread. He was accustomed to a wait of five minutes or so before Bruce found enough time to leave the Cave. Gotham's Most Extravagant Bachelor would always arrive slightly haggard, with diagrams or computer print-outs in his hands, and nearly fall unconscious once his frame rested within the living room's overstuffed satin chairs. A smile thrown Jason's way meant that Bruce had received more bumps, bruises and bullet grazes than usual. A distant, glazed over look, on the other hand, indicated that Bruce was churning over some complex bit of mysterious circumstance that he would share with Jason later in the day, after he got back from school. However, there was no look this morning because Jason ate alone. Bruce didn't arrive after five minutes, didn't arrive after ten. How bad had last night been?

He pondered this as he scraped the last remnants of his meal into the kitchen wastebasket. He had no idea what turmoil Bruce had faced mere hours before, dressed in his signature cape and cowl, because he had been denied the luxury of nightly patrol. Another unspoken rule in this house–if Jason descended into the Cave at ten o'clock and the cabinets were locked, if meant that Bruce wanted to patrol alone. This happened more often than Jason would've liked to admit.

After scouring the kitchen cupboards for food, despite not having the slightest appetite, he decided upon traveling into the Cave. That, in and of itself, was no big deal, as he often made the journey in the late afternoon to train, pump irons, and to try and beat Dick Grayson's training simulation score (which was near impossible.) But Jason rarely went down in the morning. Then again, Bruce's no-show at the breakfast table demanded further inquiry. Jason reached the tall, oak grandfather clock in the next room. A small electronic device installed in the its belly made authentic_ tick-tock_ sounds, but this clock was not used to tell time. He reached inside the glass display case and turned the clock hands to exactly 10:43. Then, using all of his strength, Jason wedged open the safe door. Sliding through the opening he had made,Jason made his way into Bruce's true home down wet steps carved out of stone.

Jason reached the bottom rung the way he always did, with a few well-timed leaps that always made Bruce cringe. The scene was mundane enough. The few cars Bruce kept in a small garage in the Cave's northwest corner, the ones Dick Grayson had labeled "Batmobiles", were in their usual places. The Cave's collection of high-end computers were all on, which was also without note–Bruce left the CPUs with their power on continuously so that he wouldn't have to bother with rebooting while trying to track an important lead. None of this was out of step, none of this was out of place. Except for the fact that _Bruce wasn't here._

It took him a few second to come upon this realization, and Jason whacked his forehead in annoyance. His mind began to assemble the puzzle pieces; Alfred had informed him that Bruce had run into more trouble than usual the night before, which meant that their butler had talked to Bruce sometime after he had arrived back at Wayne Manor. So he had been here...but was gone now. This_ never_ happened. Bruce would wake Jason up if he had to attend an emergency business conference, and would obviously tell Alf. Something was very wrong here, and Jason had no idea what that "something" was.

That is, until he realized that the Bruce's car garage wasn't the only way out of the Cave. There was a secret entrance; Jason could count on one hand how many people knew about it. He and Bruce has constructed a tunnel that stretched from one of the Cave's lower levels to a large, otherwise unremarkable boulder at the forests' edge. The entrance was only to be used in case he or Bruce thought that the Cave itself had been compromised.

A few Olympic-worthy maneuvers brought Jason to the heart of the Cave. Only a few weak beams of light found their way to these depths, so Jason waited for his eyes to adjust. When he thought he could see well enough, he held both hands outwards, placing them against the Cave walls and made his way through. A hidden control panel was only a few feet away, and flicking one switch would flood the entirearea with illumination. Jason unlatched the panel and flipped the switch. The first thing he saw Bruce, in the garb of The Dark Knight, crawling at nothing and panting heavily. He was mumbling...something. Cigs? Diggs? Then he started to bang his head against the Cave floor. Loudly.

Jason rushed to him and blocked Bruce's forehead with the palm of one hand. What had happened? What was Bruce doing? Furthermore, what was that smell? What you might think maggots smelled like. Jason looked up, towards the secret entrance, and received answersto all of his questionsDr. Jonathan Crane stood before he and Bruce in his ridiculous Scarecrow outfit, pointing the nozzle ofhis fear gas dispenser towards Jason's nostrils. Before he could move, before he could even scream, Crane said a few words and blasted him with the gas. The words were, "O Hello, Little One/ This Little Game has Just Begun."


End file.
